The White House has notified the House Intelligence Committee that President Donald Trump is "unable" to declassify a memo drafted by Democrats that counters GOP allegations about abuse of government surveillance powers in the FBI's Russia probe, citing national security concerns.

White House counsel Don McGahn said in a letter to the committee yesterday that the memo contains "numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages" and asked the intelligence panel to revise the memo with the help of the Justice Department.

He said Mr Trump is still "inclined" to release the memo in the interest of transparency if revisions are made.

The president's rejection of the Democratic memo is in contrast to his enthusiastic embrace of releasing the Republican document, which he pledged before reading to make public. The president declassified the document last week, allowing its publication in full — over the objections of the Justice Department.

he White House has notified the House Intelligence Committee that President Donald Trump is "unable" to declassify a memo drafted by Democrats. (AAP)

The committee's top Democrat, California Representative Adam Schiff, criticised Mr Trump for treating the two documents differently, saying the president is now seeking revisions by the same committee that produced the original Republican memo.

Still, Rep Schiff said, Democrats "look forward to conferring with the agencies to determine how we can properly inform the American people about the misleading attack on law enforcement by the GOP".

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said the move is "part of a dangerous and desperate pattern of cover-up on the part of the president”.

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California Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has read the classified information both memos are based on. She tweeted that Mr Trump's blocking the memo is "hypocrisy at its worst”.

The head of the House committee, Representative Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who produced the GOP memo, encouraged Democrats to accept the Justice Department's recommendations and "make the appropriate technical changes and redactions”.

The committee's top Democrat, California Representative Adam Schiff, criticised Trump for treating the two documents differently. (AAP)House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said the move is "part of a dangerous and desperate pattern of cover-up on the part of the president”. (AAP)

Mr Trump has said the GOP memo "vindicates" him in the ongoing Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. But Democrats and Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Rep Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., who helped draft the GOP memo, have said it shouldn't be used to undermine the special counsel.

Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Raj Shah said Mr Trump was discussing the Democratic document with the White House counsel's office, FBI Director Christopher Wray and another top Justice Department official.

The president had until today to decide whether to allow the classified material to become public after the House intelligence committee voted Monday to release it.

Republicans backed releasing the memo in committee with a unanimous vote, but several said they thought it should be redacted. Mr Ryan also said he thought the Democratic document should be released.

This caps off a week in which Republicans and Democrats on the committee have publicly fought, with the panel now erecting a wall to separate feuding Republican and Democratic staffers who had long sat side by side.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, tweeted that Mr Trump's blocking the memo is "hypocrisy at its worst”. (AAP)

The disagreements have escalated over the last year as Democrats have charged that Republicans aren't taking the panel's investigation into Russian election meddling seriously enough.

They say the GOP memo, led by Mr Nunes, is designed as a distraction from the probe, which is looking into whether Mr Trump's campaign was in any way connected to the Russian interference.

Mr Trump declassified the GOP-authored memo over the objections of the FBI, which said it had "grave concerns" about the document's accuracy.